DeForest, Wisconsin: Sissie the Cow

We LOVE Sissy the Cow! Great spot to take a break from driving, stretch your legs, take some pictures with Sissy and buy more cheese and fudge for the ride.

Sissy the Cow stands proudly, guarding Ehlenbach's Cheese Chalet in DeForest, WI.

The Cheese Chalet is awesome! So many quirky things there. It has the usual tourist attractions, like cheese, cheese hats, cheese magnets, etc. but you can see Sissy the Cow, a huge fiberglass cow outside; the cheese sign with a mouse climbing up the pole, and it has a sign out front that says how many miles you are from different cities, ranging from Madison to Tokyo. Has a nice kitschy feel to it.

Sissy the Cow's buddy, the Pink Elephant, is just down the street.

By strategically missing an exit or two I was able to visit Ehlenbach's Cheese Chalet today in DeForest, WI. Sissy is a big cow, but Sissy doesn't talk. "It used to," said the woman behind the counter, "but someone shot its voice out."

On the way home I drove through Janesville and tracked down Bessie the Cow, mascot of the Janesville Oasis Restaurant, Motel, and Cheese Shop. The women in the cheese shop didn't know her name, but they found the manager.

Bessie has seen better days: her paint is fading and one horn and two teats are held together with duct tape. On the positive side, she's wearing a bright yellow Cheesehead hat.

Which one is bigger? Close inspection of my photographs reveals that they are made from the same mold! Both are from, you guessed it, Sparta, Wisconsin [See F.A.S.T.]. Sissy is on a higher base. Does this make her a bigger cow? I don't think so.

Bessie was put in place in 1966. I didn't get a date for Sissy. This is suspiciously close to the 1964 World's Fair. I can't find my pictures of Chatty Belle. Does she have horns? If so, we may find that the three largest cows in Wisconsin are clones.